We have come a long way from the days when LED lighting could barely illuminate a cupboard. The latest
generation of bulbs are brighter, longer lasting and more eco-friendly than ever before and many
businesses and home owners are now considering them as a viable option to their current
lighting.According to some, LED has the potential to completely change lighting as we know it. But what
are the real benefits of this relatively new technology and why should you change the bulbs in your
office and home.

There is no denying the fact that India is staring at a huge energy crisis. To
sustain the country’s rapid urbanization, scaling up energy efficiency projects looks to be the best
bet. And incorporating energy-efficiency measures in new and existing buildings, especially the
commercial buildings like industries, hotels, hospitals etc will go a long way in solving the
crisis.
This case study highlights the case of Ambuja Ceramics, a well-known ceramic factory in the ceramic hub
of Thangadh. The Ambuja Ceramic retrofit of ceiling fans shows that energy-saving retrofits are
practical and profitable and the recovery period is less than a year.

The EcoPlug from SolarGy offers a cost effective way to measure the electricity consumption of
individual electrical appliances.
The EcoPlug has a large LCD display which shows the power consumption, electricity price and
operating
time of the appliance.
Simply plug the EcoPlug into a wall socket and plug the appliance that you wish to check into the
socket
on the front.
The EcoPlug will then display the running cost and energy usage of the appliance in use.
This simple plug and play device will certainly help consumers reduce their electricity bill through
prudent use of electricity.

Power inverters keep supplying electric current to electrical and
electronic devices and keep them running during power cut. The performance and back up of an inverter
depends largely on its battery. A battery is the backbone of an inverter. It is responsible for the
good performance and long life of your inverter. Just like any other home appliance your inverter and
its battery require regular maintenance for effective operation and longer backup life.

Below are some useful tips and guidelines to increase the back up of your
inverter:

A Power Saver is a device which plugs in to power socket. Apparently just by keeping the device connected it
will immediately reduce your power consumption. Typical claims are savings between 25% and 40%.

It is known that the electricity that comes to our homes is not stable in nature. There are many
fluctuations, raise and falls, and surges/Spikes in this current. This unstable current cannot be used by
any of the household appliances. Moreover, the fluctuating current wastes the electric current from the
circuit by converting electrical energy into heat energy.

An inverter does the opposite job and it's quite easy to
understand the essence of how it works. Suppose you have a battery in
a flashlight and the switch is closed so DC flows around the circuit,
always in the same direction, like a race car around a track. Now what
if you take the battery out and turn it around. Assuming it fits the
other way, it'll almost certainly still power the flashlight and you
won't notice any difference in the light you get—but the electric
current will actually be flowing the opposite way. Suppose you
had lightning-fast hands and were deft enough to keep reversing the
battery 50–60 times a second. You'd then be a kind of mechanical
inverter, turning the battery's DC power into AC at a frequency of
50–60 hertz.

A battery plays a vital role in the life of an inverter. In the situation of a power cut, we need to have
some stored electricity that we can use to run our appliances. A battery is where we can store that extra
electricity. This stored electricity is in the form of DC power. And an inverter helps us to use this stored
power by converting it into AC power.

We can connect two broad types of batteries with inverters. Lead Acid Type and Tubular type batteries. There
are essentially rechargeable wet batteries. Batteries need maintenance and can create problems if not taken
care of and for doing that the first thing would be to know your battery inside out!

Benefits of LED Lighting

Less Power

LED bulbs use less power than any other makes. According to many
manufacturers, LED offers a 90% saving over the old fashioned incandescent bulbs. And they can
be about a third more efficient than the CFL bulbs that we were all encouraged to use to be
greener. For instance, a 25 w incandescent bulb equates to a 6 watt CFL and a 4 watt LED
bulb.

Longer Lasting

The major benefit of LED bulbs is that they last significantly
longer than the old incandescent bulbs. They have great thermal management properties and a well
manufactured bulb should last around 50,000 hours compared to an incandescent bulb that cold
last 1,500 hours. This major difference presents a real cost saving for those who switch to LED
lighting and is even better than CFL bulbs.

Better Brightness

It used to be the problem with LED bulbs that they couldn’t provide
enough light. It’s a tribute to the research and development of this technology that in the last
couple of years this problem has been largely solved. LED bulbs now compare favourably with
other light sources and, unlike CFL lights, they provide it full light immediately rather than
taking time to ‘warm up’.

Comparable Range

The other thing that has changed with LED bulbs is the range of
different ones available. From just a couple of designs you can now get candles, spotlights,
golf balls, tube, reflector and GLS. There are also the fittings that you would expect including
bayonet and screw which means that offices and households will be able to find a bulb to fit
their needs.

Safer Technology

The problem with Compact Florescent Lamps is they contain mercury
and are therefore more problematic when it comes to disposal. LED bulbs are entirely safe and
they also do not give out high temperatures when lit and are therefore easier to handle than a
hot bulb. You also don’t get the glass enclosures that you find with other bulbs and you don’t
have to worry about things like broken glass.

Eco-friendly LED Bulbs

The green credentials of LED technology are a strong reason to
change to these kinds of bulbs, particularly if you are a business that is keen to reduce its
carbon footprint. LED lighting uses less energy and so you are cutting down the CO2 emissions
that come with electricity production. They also don’t contain any harmful metals such as lead
or mercury and the manufacturing process is a lot cleaner than with other bulbs. Because they
last longer than their counterparts, that means we won’t have to manufacture or buy as many
which again reduces the impact on the environment.

Work in Existing Fittings

Most LED bulbs have the standard fittings such as screw and bayonet
and can simply be swapped with your existing lighting. The only caveats are that dimmer switches
may need replacing if you have them because LED bulbs work on a lower wattage. For LED tubes you
may also need to change the ballast and rewire it but many makes will actually fit into the
existing fixture.

The Cost is Coming Down

The other complaint for LED bulbs in the past was the cost. With
better manufacturing processes and the increased demand because of recent research developments
the price has come down dramatically over the last few years. If you add to this that LED bulbs
last a lot longer than others on the market then you have a cost effective and efficient
lighting system. Yes, they are still slightly more expensive (a 75 watt equivalent LED spotlight
will set you back around £20) but this is offset by the energy savings and the fact it is much
longer lasting than many other types of bulb.

It’s estimated that almost 20% of our energy bills, both in the home
and in the office, is taken up with lighting. When you consider that LED bulbs operate at a much
lower wattage than other makes you can see that there are considerable cost savings to be made
in the long term when you change to this technology.

About Super Fan

Gorilla energy efficient ceiling fan

Consuming just 28 Watts at
the highest speed, Gorilla is India's most energy efficient ceiling fan. Using BLDC
technology, each Gorilla Fan results in a saving of Rs 1000-Rs 1500 per year depending on
usage and electricity rates.

The fan comes with a smart
remote control, which has speed control, sleep and timer mode. There is a 3 year replacement
warranty on the product.

Key Features

Super energy efficient BLDC Motor

Highest service value (air delivery/watt)

Runs 3 times longer on inverter resulting longer battery life

No humming noise

No heating of fan even after long hours of runtime resulting in
extra long life

Consistent performance even at low voltage and power
fluctuation

3 years of limited warranty

Smart Remote

Easy speed control using smart remote

TIMER features to auto switch off the fan

SLEEP mode that reduces the speed after set hours and saves
energy

Durability

ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certified

Compliant with the requirements of IS 374: 1979

All alloy body with powder coating

Every fan is tested in extreme conditions before shipping

Additional Information

ECO Plug

Plug the EcoPlug into the wall socket

Then plug the electrical appliance that you wish to monitor the electricity consumption into
the EcoPlug

Item

Action

Function

1 FUNCTION

Press

Displays the following each time it is pressed:

Total running time

Power Consumption (W)

Voltage (V) / Current (A)

Highest Power Consumption (W) / Lowest Power Consumption (W)

Frequency (Hz)

Unit Price of Electricity

Total Energy Consumption (kWh) and Total Electricity Charges

2 POWER

Press

Displays the power consumption.

3 COST

Press

Displays the total energy consumption and total electricity charges.

4 OL

-

When the LED lights up, the device plugged into the EcoPlug is consuming
more power than allowed. Disconnect immediately.

To setunit price ofelectricity

Hold COSTbutton pressFUNCTIONbutton

Rate is displayed on flashing LCD. Then press the ▲ and ▼ buttons to set
the unit charge. When the set up is complete, press the ■ button to end the setting
procedure.

The BCA Green Mark Scheme was launched in January 2005 as an initiative to move Singapore's
construction industry towards more
environment-friendly buildings. It is intended to promote sustainability in the built
environment and raise environmental awareness
among developers, designers and builders when they start project conceptualisation and design,
as well as during construction.

BCA Green Mark Certification Scheme
Building Developers can offer this device to the residents as part of the Green Mark
Certification Scheme and enjoy GM point under
the Innovation Category. This device probably costs the lowest in terms of $ per GM point and at
the same time it is something useful
that the residents can benefit.

Battery Life Enhance

Power inverters keep supplying electric current to electrical
and electronic devices and keep them running during power cut. The performance and back up of an
inverter depends largely on its battery. A battery is the backbone of an inverter. It is
responsible for the good performance and long life of your inverter. Just like any other
home appliance your inverter and its battery require regular maintenance for effective operation
;and
longer backup life.

Below are some useful tips and guidelines to increase the back up of
your inverter:

Disconnect extra load when not required

Power inverters utilize the energy stored in batteries and supply
current to the electrical and electronic devices to keep them running during power cut. The more
load or devices you use during power failure, more power will be sucked out of batteries and
shorter will be the backup period. So, disconnect the extra loads when not required to
extend the backup of inverter.

Use energy saving devices

Go for energy saving devices to reduce power consumption from inverter batteries. For example, an ordinary
bulb uses 75% more energy than a CFL or LED bulb to provide the same amount of light.
Similarly a ceiling fan with better copper wiring consumes lesser power than a fan with poor
quality winding ( poor quality copper winding increases the resistance and increases
the load on inverters).

Take good care of inverter batteries

Keep the battery terminalscorrosion freeand rust
free.Rusting and corrosion are bad for battery performance. Rusting in terminals
reduces the current flow to and from the battery. This restricted flow of current results in
slow battery charging which ultimately reduces battery life and eventually effects your
inverter back up. If the terminals get corroded pour hot water + baking soda solution on the
corrosive area or use a tooth brush for cleaning. This will remove the corrosion.Once the
terminals become corrosion free, apply petroleum jelly on to the terminals, nuts and
bolts to avoid future corrosion.

It is very important to charge the inverter batteries correctly
in order to maintain the back up. After installation use battery on a regular basis. If the
power cut does not occur, discharge the battery completely once every month and then
recharge it.

Check the water level of battery every two months. Ensure that
the water level is maintained between the maximum and minimum water limit. Always top
up the battery with distilled water. Do not use tap water or rain water as it contains
excess
minerals and impurities which affect the life and performance of the battery.

Change the batteries of your inverter if they are worn out.
Over time batteries lose their designed capacity thus reducing the backup. Buy good
quality batteries that will last longer and also guarantee the correct charge storage
capacity. Poor quality batteries fail prematurelyand do not offer sufficient backup.
Maintenance free or sealed batteries are best suited as these won’t leak the electrolyte.
There are other types of batteries as well like lithium batteries which can be used for back
up. Tubular batteries are the most efficient batteries.They have a complex
design, great efficiency, longer operational life (8+ years) and low maintenance.

Power Saver Kit

Power Saver stores the electricity inside of it using a system of capacitors and they release it
in a smoother way to normal without the spikes. The systems also automatically remove carbon
from the circuit which also encourages a smoother electrical flow. This means that we will have
less power spikes. More of the electricity flowing around circuit can be used to power
appliances than before.

Basically it is claimed that Power savers work on the principle of surge protection technology.
Power savers work on straightening this
unstable electric current to provide a smooth and constant output. The fluctuation in voltage is
unpredictable and cannot be controlled. However, the power savers utilize current fluctuation to
provide a usable power by acting like a filter and allowing only smooth current to pass through
the circuit. Power savers use capacitors for this purpose. When there is a surge of current in
the circuit, the capacitor of the power saver stores the excess current and releases it when
there is a sudden drop. Thus only smooth output current comes out of the device.

Moreover, a power saver also removes any type of carbon in the system, which facilitates further
smoother flow. The main advantage of power savers is not that they provide a backup
system in times of low current, but that it protects the household appliances. It
is known that a sudden rise in the power can destroy the electrical appliance. Thus, the power
saver not only protects the appliance but also increases its life. Moreover, they also reduce
the energy consumption and thus the electricity bills.

The amount of power saved by a power saver depends on the number of appliances on the electrical
circuit. Also, the system takes at least a week to adapt itself fully to the circuit, before it
starts showing its peak performance. The maximum amount of voltage savings will be seen in areas
where in the current fluctuation is the highest.

Power Saver Kit

Inverter

What's the difference between DC and AC electricity?

When science teachers explain the basic idea of electricity to us
as a flow of electrons, they're usually talking about direct current (DC). We learn that the electrons work a bit like a line
of ants, marching along with packets of electrical in the same
way that ants carry leaves. That's a good enough analogy for
something like a basic flashlight, where we have a circuit (an
unbroken electrical loop) linking a battery, a lamp, and a switch
and
electrical energy is systematically transported from the battery to
the lamp until all the battery's energy is depleted.

In bigger household appliances, electricity works a different way.
The power supply that comes from the outlet in your wall is based on
alternating current (AC), where the electricity switches
direction around 50–60 times each second (in other words, at a
frequency of 50–60 Hz). It can be hard to understand how AC delivers
energy when it's constantly changing its mind about where it's going!
If the electrons coming out of your wall outlet get, let's say, a few
millimeters down the cable then have to reverse direction and go back
again, how do they ever get to the lamp on your table to make it
light up?

The answer is actually quite simple. Imagine the cables
running between the lamp and the wall packed full of electrons. When
you flick on the switch, all the electrons filling the cable
vibrate back and forth in the lamp's filament—and that rapid
shuffling about converts electrical energy into heat and makes the
lamp bulb glow. The electrons don't necessarily have to run in circle to transport energy:
in AC, they simply "run on the spot."

What is an inverter?

An inverter does the opposite job and it's quite easy to
understand the essence of how it works. Suppose you have a battery in
a flashlight and the switch is closed so DC flows around the circuit,
always in the same direction, like a race car around a track. Now what
if you take the battery out and turn it around. Assuming it fits the
other way, it'll almost certainly still power the flashlight and you
won't notice any difference in the light you get—but the electric
current will actually be flowing the opposite way. Suppose you
had lightning-fast hands and were deft enough to keep reversing the
battery 50–60 times a second. You'd then be a kind of mechanical
inverter, turning the battery's DC power into AC at a frequency of
50–60 hertz.

Of course the kind of inverters you buy in electrical stores don't work quite
this way, though some are indeed mechanical: they use electromagnetic
switches that flick on and off at high speed to reverse the current
direction. Inverters like this often produce what's known as a
square-wave output: the current is either flowing one way or the
opposite way or it's instantly swapping over between the two states:

These kind of sudden power reversals are quite brutal for some forms of electrical equipment.
In normal AC power, the current gradually swaps from one direction to the other in a sine-wave
pattern, like this:

How does an inverter work?

We've just had a very basic overview of inverters—and now let's go over it again in a little
bit more detail.

Imagine you're a DC battery and someone taps you on the shoulder
and asks you to produce AC instead. How would you do it? If all the
current you produce flows out in one direction, what about adding a
simple switch to your output lead? Switching your current on and off,
very rapidly, would give pulses of direct current—which would do at
least half the job. To make proper AC, you'd need a switch that
allowed you to reverse the current completely and do it about 50‐60
times every second. Visualize yourself as a human battery swapping your
contacts back and forth over 3000 times a minute. That's some neat fingerwork you'd need!

In essence, an old-fashioned mechanical inverter boils down to a switching unit
connected to an electricity transformer. If you've studied our
article on transformers, you'll know that they're electromagnetic
devices that change low-voltage AC to high-voltage AC, or vice-versa,
using two coils of wire (called the primary and secondary) wound
around a common iron core. In a mechanical inverter, either an electric motor
or some other kind of automated switching mechanism flips the incoming direct current back and
forth in the
primary, simply by reversing the contacts, and that produces alternating current in the
secondary—so
it's not so very different from the imaginary inverter I sketched out
above. The switching device works a bit like the one in an
electric doorbell. When the power is connected, it magnetizes the switch,
pulling it open and switching it off very briefly. A spring pulls the
switch back into position, turning it on again and repeating the
process—over and over again.

Battery

A battery is a vital part of an inverter.The performance and life of an inverter largely
depends on its battery. There are several classifications of inverter batteries. Here are few of
them:

Lead Acid Batteries

Maintenance Free batteries

Tubular Batteries

Lead Acid Batteries

Lead acid batteries are the most common inverter batteries. These
are rechargeable in nature and produce large amount of current. They are light in weight and
most economical. They usually last for 3-4 years. But they require regular maintenance. The
electrolyte level check and topping up has to be done regularly. They also release harmful
gases during charging and discharging. So they must be installed at a well ventilated place in
home.

Maintenance Free Batteries

Maintenance free batteries are the sealed lead acid batteries that
do not require electrolyte level check and topping up. They are fit and forget type batteries
are safer compared to normal lead acid batteries. But they are costly compared to normal lead
acid batteries and have a shorter life.

Tubular Batteries

Tubular batteries are the most popular and efficient inverter
batteries. They have a complex design, great efficiency, longer operational life (8+ years) and
low maintenance. Because of so many advantages they are costly.

You have to be careful about the local batteries that are available
in the market. People usually go for branded inverter set and local batteries. But its not
a good combo. Local batteries should not be used. They have many down sides like poor
efficiency, low safety, poor operational life and high maintenance. Do not kill your inverters
by using these local and less efficient batteries.